Gaz's 1.9 Turbo Diesel

[waue1978]

Sorry if this sounds dense, but what is the capacitor for? I've always just had a live feed to the amps & plugged the amps into the speakers & never really had any issues.

[Gary406]

you dont sound dence. i didnt know what 1 did untill 4 weeks ago

a power capacitor is basically a battery, it stores a very large amount of power and releases it when a voltage drop accures

when your subwoofer amps are playing high there is voltage drops caused by so much current being drawn from the battery

a power cap basically stops those voltage drops so your amps are getting maximum power fed to them all the time,

a power capacitor also helps all other lights in the car dimming when high bass notes are being played, altho in my car bass is that loud it still makes the other lights dim but not as much as it did before i installed the power cap

[Bailes1992]

Looks good but capacitors aren't really that good. I simply had my remote cable on a switch and switched everything off before I started the car.
When your battery is low the capacitor will just drain everything left in your battery, it is also known that they put excess strain on your altenator. I've actually seen an altinator change it's pitch and start whining when a capacitor was plugged into the system.
Your better off first upgrading your wires, if you still have issues get a bigger altenator. My 406 never had an issue running 2 amps what so ever, I simply just turned them off when the ignition was off. Your best bet would be to add a second battery to your car closer to the boot. There are also specially designed car batteries that work like capacitors; that is, they have standby power that can be released as needed. If I kept the 406 I was planning on getting en engine that had air con and hadding a second altenator and battery for the sound system.
Adding a second battery in the boot would be your best bet. Just run a long, good quality, 0 Gauge cable from the positive side of the main battery to the boot. Earth the battrey in the boot and connect the live from the main better to the live on the battery in the boot. That should stop any dimming, allow longer use off the sound system with the engine off and should stop the lights dimming. Make sure to put an isolator on the battery though.

[steve_earwig]

One of those split charge systems for a caravan perhaps Oh, and wiring large amps up to the existing wiring in the car is asking for twubble, but I guess you guys know that already.

[Bailes1992]

One of those split charge systems for a caravan perhaps Oh, and wiring large amps up to the existing wiring in the car is asking for twubble, but I guess you guys know that already.

Providing the car's original battery wiring (mainly earth) is decent then adding an amp or two should cause too much strain

[steve_earwig]

I mean trouble as in loading already existing circuits so the voltage drops on them, much better to run wires direct from the battery.

[Gary406]

Looks good but capacitors aren't really that good. I simply had my remote cable on a switch and switched everything off before I started the car.
When your battery is low the capacitor will just drain everything left in your battery, it is also known that they put excess strain on your altenator. I've actually seen an altinator change it's pitch and start whining when a capacitor was plugged into the system.
Your better off first upgrading your wires, if you still have issues get a bigger altenator. My 406 never had an issue running 2 amps what so ever, I simply just turned them off when the ignition was off. Your best bet would be to add a second battery to your car closer to the boot. There are also specially designed car batteries that work like capacitors; that is, they have standby power that can be released as needed. If I kept the 406 I was planning on getting en engine that had air con and hadding a second altenator and battery for the sound system.
Adding a second battery in the boot would be your best bet. Just run a long, good quality, 0 Gauge cable from the positive side of the main battery to the boot. Earth the battrey in the boot and connect the live from the main better to the live on the battery in the boot. That should stop any dimming, allow longer use off the sound system with the engine off and should stop the lights dimming. Make sure to put an isolator on the battery though.

power caps take a mear 1 second to fully charge so they cant possible drain all the power from the battery

[Gary406]

and adding a 2nd battery in the boot and running 0 gauge cable is plain silly, that would cost way to much when a capacitor does the same job for less than half the cost

[Gary406]

strain on the alternator ? hows that possible ?

they simple pulse extra voltage when the bass notes are playing high/deep , they instantly charge back up in 1 second,

cant see they could have any effect on the alternator .

[Gary406]

your alternator would have more of a strain on it WITHOUT a power cap fitted

[Bailes1992]

I'm on a fair few forums and know a few ICE experts/auto sparks through them. I'm just repeating what they say.

[steve_earwig]

I remember our physics teacher telling us no-one makes capacitors of 1 farad because the plates would need to be the size of planets, and now I'm looking at a picture of a 50 farad capacitor on a car audio site That's just mad.

Capacitors have been used for years as a basic form of smoothing on dc, these days they can be a bit more complicated, (involving zener diodes and other such electrickery) but the idea is to take a higher yet unstable voltage and chop it down a bit and make it constant. I guess you don't get the luxury of a higher voltage on a car though.

I'd think they would put a bit of a strain on things as they charge, when you first connect them they will act like a short circuit, I'm not sure how long that 50 farad would take to charge (there are rules but my brain can't cope with that sort of thing any more) but I'd imagine it'll be a few seconds. I'm sure the alternator will complain! I'm sure they'd be better charged through a resistor, I can't find any design diagrams but perhaps they do.

[Gary406]

ye i charged mine throu a resistor ,

theres a lot of talks / arguments about power capacitors as bailes probably knows from his other forums,

there are so many good / bad views about them so i tend to stay away from the subject.

[Gary406]

but yah i understand were bailes is coming from, a power cap doesnt do anyhting to make the sound better what-so-ever,,

[Bailes1992]

If I was you though, get a small amount of 0 Gauge wire (you may have some good stuff left from the install?) and fit a second earth for the battery! Probably help no end!